Hatch-Night
by darkangel8950
Summary: TWOSHOT The first chapter is a memory, the next chapter is the present (2007) at that time. It's centered around Hudson and the night that Broadway hatched. Meant to be sad in the beginning, but in the end, its happy. OCs are featured in both chapters! Please read it, it's better than it sounds!


**Disclaimer: I own nothing but this story and any Ocs used. This first chapter is Hudson remembering the night Broadway was hatched, now, as most (or all) of you know, Broadway had an older and a younger sister, but in this story, they do not exist. This first chapter is a flash back of Hudson's, that's why it says its back in 958, the next one will be on the same night of 2006. You'll see why in the next chapter.**

Chapter 1

November 1st, 958 BC

_"My love, ya don't have to go on this patrol." The leader told his mate under the light of the moon, "The eggs are supposed to hatch tonight, I thought ya would've liked to see our first born before we claim heritage to all the hatchlings."_

Why did she have to go? She was the only female to leave with patrol, all the others were either too young, or wanted to stay and watch the eggs hatch, find their own children and hold them for a moment before having to claim parentage to them all. It was a law of gargoyles to care for all the hatchlings and not just their own. After all, as soon as a gargoyle was hatched, it became a part of one big family rather than single family units.

_The teal skinned female shook her head, "No, darling. I dunnae want to see ma child for only a second before it gets claimed by all gargoyles." she spoke with an accent as thick as his own. She had no hair on her head, just three small spikes that went from the top of her forehead, to the back of her skull. Her green and teal wings were caped over her shoulders, and her tail swished behind her in an agitated way. She clearly just wanted to leave the castle before the eggs hatched, but her mate didn't understand why._

He shouldn't have let her go. He should have pinned her wings back and command her to stay for him. For their egg. For the fact that they would become parents for the first time.

_He looked at her, his gaze questioning, "Empress," he addressed her by the name he reserved for her and only her, "what is wrong? Ya've been acting so strange as the time for the hatching draws closer." he observed._

_ The female looked down and away from her mate, slight pain etched on her elegant face, "Do ya realize that, when I hold something as precious as a hatchling, I get attached to it?" she looked up and waited for him to nod, "I wouldn't be able ta let our hatchling get claimed by every female and male of our generation, it belongs to us! It shares half of me as well as you, and the mere thought that even the mates who didn't have an egg would be claimin' it, it just makes me angrier than I'd care ta be." she crossed her arms over her leather covered chest and looked at him stubbornly, she had said her piece, now she had to wait for her mate._

The beige skinned leader ducked his head and placed his hands on top of his horns as silent tears streamed down his cheeks. He had tried to reason with the female, tell her that it didn't matter whether or not the other gargoyles claimed their child, at least they would still be able to be with it, even if they couldn't acknowledge the fact that it was solely theirs.

_"'Tis clan law, my love. This is not a first time thing, generations before have done the same, remember?" he tried._

She hadn't listened.

_Her eyes narrowed at him, "Yes, and I remember hating every time I would try and talk to the female who had laid my egg, give her the name 'mother' as I had seen so many human hatchlings do; and she would glare at me and warn me about calling her that name again. She said it was a name that only humans should use, and to never speak it again. I tried to acknowledge that she was my mother, and she disowned me after the second time I used the word." she sighed heavily, "I just don't want to look at the young one and know that I can never look at it as just ours."_

_ The leader looked at her with sympathy, in all honesty, he also wished he could look at the hatchling as only their's, but it was law. He was the leader. Pretty soon, he would be a parent to every single egg in the rookery, a mentor. Same for his mate, but she just didn't want that privilege. He reached forward and took her hands in his, "Empress, trust me, everythin' will be fine." he smiled sadly at her, "But, if ye truly want to go, I guess ye can patrol with our brothers."_

_ Empress smiled gratefully at him as she stretched up and wrapped her arms around his neck, her wings moved from her shoulders to wrap around his armor covered torso as one hand started lovingly stroking his light brown hair, "Thank ye." she breathed out as he moved his own arms and wings around her, his hand cupping her head gently._

_ "I love you." he heard her whisper in his ear, he smiled softly._

_ "I love you as well, my Empress."_

The beige gargoyle suppressed a sob as he grit his teeth and shook his head in disbelief; his mate had left with three of their rookery brothers to patrol the west forest where they were ambushed by a group of mad rogues armed with ropes and swords.

Three gargoyles, dead.

His mate, one of them.

His rookery brother, a web wing gargoyle with khaki green skin and no hair, had escaped with rope burns, and the tip of his tail cut off; had glided as fast as he could to reach the leader, where he collapsed on the ground before him and gasped out about his three other companions dying.

"I'm so sorry, my brother." the beaten gargoyle huffed as he stared up to his leader with huge, apologetic eyes, "If it helps, your mate put up a brave fight." he had said before a long coughing fit took hold of him. His leader had remained stoic as he told him to get down to the rookery and have one of the females take care of him.

"I think yer mate is down there right now, with yer egg." he said sadly, his heart heavily laced with pain as he watched the surviving gargoyle get up and race away from the grieving one.

Now the poor male, having told everyone else, including his second in command to leave him be; sat on top of a battlement, tears streaming down his face and his heart aching painfully at the thought that he would never see his love again, never hear the beautiful melody that was her voice, never feel her body in his arms again.

He felt alone.

He had experienced with loss before, the leader before him was his biological father, and he had been slaughtered during battle. And his biological mother had perished in a forest fire, she was trying to save stray cattle that had gotten loose.

Now he had to deal with his mate's death.

And on the same night their child was supposed to come into the world.

His head shot up, his hands falling away from his horns at this realization, "Our hatchling..." he whispered, he still had a small piece of Empress.

Standing up, he stretched out his wings and jumped off his perch, gliding down to the caves below the castle and landing on the largest ledge that lead to the rookery, which was being guarded by his second in command, who was in all honesty, the biggest gargoyle in the clan, and his mate.

The lavender gargoyle looked at his leader with concern, "Mentor, are you alright?" his normally deep rumble of a voice had gone down to a softer vibe, he must've heard about the leader's mate.

The leader nodded and cleared his throat as he swiped at his eyes to get rid of any evidence that he had cried, "Aye, Goliath. I am fine." he looked between the two mates for a moment, "Do ye know if the eggs have hatched yet?" he asked.

The blue skinned female with the firey hair answered, "Three have hatched, yes." she responded.

"Was one of those the egg my mate and I created?" he asked.

"It was the second one to hatch, Mentor." Goliath replied, trying to give the older gargoyle a smile of congratulations.

The leader struggled to return it, still not entirely okay after this recent heartbreak, "Wonderful." he said as he walked between the two and through the doorway, caping his wings as he went down the long stairway to reach the hatching area.

When he had reached his destination, he was immediately approached by a couple of beaked gargoyles, a sandy skinned female with snow white hair, long horns on top of her eyeridges, with sand and brown colored wings; and a rusty red skinned male with ash blonde hair and a matching beard on the bottom of his beak, with split horns on his eyeridges, and red wings.

The female was absolutely ecstatic, and her mate looked on with pride, "A son! Our egg came out with a son!" she said excitedly, jumping up and down on the spot while her mate reached over and attempted to calm her to some degree, probably to not make a fool of herself in front of their leader.

The beige gargoyle smiled despite himself, these two had never had an egg besides this one, and they had been together longer than he's been the leader, he knew how excited they truly were about finally laying an egg, "Congratulations sister, brother. I am sure he will grow into a strong warrior like the two of you have become." he said.

The female smiled at him in thanks before looking between her mate and the leader and going ahead, up the stairs and out of sight.

The two males were silent for a moment, "Are you going to be alright, brother?" the beaked male asked.

The leader blinked, then sighed, "How'd ye find out?" he asked, as far as he knew, only a few gargoyles actually knew about the three deaths: himself, the survivor, Goliath, and Goliath's mate. Maybe the gargoyles who treated the survivor's wounds knew, but who else?

"My mate and I were down here, trying to coax our child to hatch faster than he did, and the survivor came down here, looking like Hell hit him. His mate was already here, holding their egg when our brother told us what had happened," the red skinned gargoyle looked down, seeming to struggle with his next few words, "including the deaths...Then, three eggs hatched while his mate took him out to the healing area to bandage him. So, I must ask again: are you going to be alright, brother?" he repeated.

The leader took in a deep breath, "Goliath has told me that the egg my mate," something caught in his throat, "laid was the second to hatch."

The beaked male nodded, "Yes." he answered as his leader moved around him and towards the nest where Empress had laid the egg. Footsteps sounding from behind told him that his rookery brother was following him.

The nest was only ten feet away from the entrance, but he only had to be five feet away to hear the sound of small growls and playful snarls that could only belong to small hatchlings.

He walked the rest of the way to the nest and stopped in the front at the sight of the three male hatchlings inside.

One of them was a small, rusty red skin with a snow white mo hawk, which was surprising since he only hatched not too long ago; horns were already forming on top of his eyeridges, red wings, and a beak. It was a dead giveaway who his biological parents were, the leader told himself as his companion moved to stand beside him and smile down at his son.

Another of them was a khaki green gargoyle with web wings and a bad underbite, he was the smallest out of the three and he no doubt belonged to the survivor and his mate. He had the biggest eyes one could ever see, and it was hard to tell who he had gotten them from, neither of his parents had eyes like his.

And the last one in the nest, he found himself staring at the little one; he was much bigger than the other two, but not too big. He had teal colored skin with three little spikes on top of his head, from the upper part of his forehead, all the way to the back of his skull, with green and teal colored wings. He also had a bad underbite like the little khaki one.

Bending down, he gently picked up the teal hatchling and raised him up to eyesight, vaguely noting how much of a fuss the little beaked one made when his rookery brother was taken out, only to be hushed effectively when his own father bent down and nuzzled him with his beak.

He stared into the hatchling's eyes as the child stared into his own, the leader couldn't help but picture his mate as his eyes roamed over the young one once more. The hatchling looked exactly like her in every way minus the obvious gender.

And she hadn't even known him.

Swallowing the sudden lump that had formed, he brought the now struggling child closer to himself, cradling the young one in his arms, calming him as he turned to his beaked rookery brother who had stood back up, "I think I'll be just fine in due time."

**I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, this is going to be a twoshot.**

**I'm not too sure about how it was written, but maybe I'm just overthinking things.**

**Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, and I can't wait to get started on the next one!**

**Please review!**

**No flames, I beg you.**

**-Zabby**


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